Improved breech-loading fire-arm



G; H..- soULE. Magazine Fire-Arm.

Patented A-prv. 3, 1855.

N PETERS.

UNITED STATES PATENT GEORGE H. SOULE, OF JERSEY CITY, NEW JERSEY.

IMPROVED BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARM.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 12,655, dated April 3, 1855.

To all whom it may concern.'

Beit known that I, GEORGE H. SOULE, of Jersey City, Hudson county, and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Breech-Loadin g Guns; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full description of the same.

The nature of my invent-ion consists in the mode of constructing the charging-chamber in the breech of the gun, and operating the same by means of the trigger-guard, so that,

.by throwing it forward, it draws down the charging-chamber to receive the cartridge from the cartridge chamber or magazine., and, by throwing it back to form the trigger-guard, it raises or readjusts the charging-chamber, bringing tle cartridge on a line with the bore of the gun, and, as the end of the cartridge has been cut open by the act of raising it, is ready for being discharged on the application of the cap.

But to describe my invention more particularly I will refer to the accompanying drawings,forming a part of this schedule, the same letters of reference wherever they occur referring to like parts.

Figure I is a side view of the gun. Fig. 2

. is a longitudinal cut section of the gun, showing the charging-chamber and cartridge adjusted ready for discharging. Fig. 3 is a longitudinal cut section of the gun, showing the charging-chamber drawn down so as to receive the cartridge from the magazine. Fig. 4 is a detached perspective view of the charging-chamber. Fig. 5 is a modification of the same, showing only half the chamber, into which the cartridge may be placed.

Letter A is the stock of the gun, which is made in the ordinary way. ranged the lock, which is operated by the dog B and trigger C in the ordinary way of discharging guns.

Letter I) is the chimney, having a vent leading to the charging-chamber.

Letter E is the breech of the gun. This is made of iron, steel, or malleable iron, as may be thought best adapted for the Working and strength of the parts. Into the front end of this breech is tapped or otherwise let in and secured the barrel F and magazine Gr of the gun. The back end of the breech is made to vices;

In this is arclasp the stock, and is secured thereto by suitable screws for that purpose, for holding the stock and barrel of the gun iirmly together.

In the breech E from the under side is cut a square mortise. In this mortise is adjusted the charging-chamber H, which is made to t the mortise as accurately as possible and allow it to move therein.

Through the upper part of the chargingchamber, and longitudinally of it, is bored out the chamber I for receiving the charge. The lower part of this charging-chamberis cutaway from the middle of it longitudinally and transversely of it, leavin g the metal at the four corners of it somewhat like the legs of a stool.

The object of the longitudinal cut h2 is for the purpose of allowing the cam J on the trigger-guard lever K to operate in the ccnter of the chamber, and thereby, when raising it, keep the sides of it always parallel with the sides of the mortise in the breech, and prevent friction of the parts; and the object of the transverse cut 71,3 is to allow of the chamber dropping down low enough between the cheeks of the breech-piece, by straddling the pin L holding the trigger-guard, for the introduction of the cartridge IVI into the bore I of the charging-chamber. These parts may be modified by many well-known equivalent debut as I deem this the simplest and best I have selected it to present tothe Office as the only one I am allowed to exhibit in my model'.

Letter J is a cam for adjusting the chargingchamber, and is held by a pin, L, passing through the lower ends of the cheek-pieces of the breech. The inner portion of this cam is cut away, so as to act as a drawing-down cam of the charging-chamber by means of the pin N passing through the back legs of the charging-chamber and through the opening in the cam, which said opening acts as an interior cam to draw down the charging-chamber as the external surface acts as a cam to raise the charging-chamber.

Letter I is an opening in the back of the breech on a line with the bore of the cartridgemagazine. The object of this is first to tear the back end of the cartridge While in the act of raising it, and, secondly, for the discharge of the wadding so torn off fromthe chamber by the end of the second cartridge pushing against it.

Letter R is a plug in the end of the magazine-barrel, on the stem of Which is a Yspiral spring, S, the object of which is to force the cartridges down into the chargingchamber in the succession in which they are placed in the magazine-barrel.

The operation of my gun is that, after having iilled the magazine-barrel With the proper supply of cartridges, I throw the trigger-guard 0r lever forward', as seen in Fig. 3, in which position it presents the bore of the chargingchamber directly opposite the bore of the magazine-barrel, and allows the spring to force into it one of the cartridges. When thus charged the trigger-guard or lever is reversed or thrown back, as seen in Fig. 2, thereby, by means of the cam, raising' the charging-chamber so as to bring its bore directly on a line With the bore of the barrel, while, at the same time the charging-chamber is being raised, the

end of' the cartridge is torn oft' by the square or cutting edges of the lateral opening P, s0 as to present an exposed surface of powder for ignition by the spark from the cap.

Having now described my invention and the mode of constructing and using it, I will proceed to state what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent ofthe United States.

set forth.

GEORGE H. SOULE. Witnesses present:

CHARLES L. BARRITT, J. B. NoNEs. 

